Travelog for: B. TarePanda

From Cologne I took the train with JP & Patty down to Stuttgart, one of my favourite cities! Our first stop was actually are rehearsal in the Liederhalle, so I hung around backstage. These are some heavy duty containers for shipping musical instruments around! I think I prefer Patty's purse... 


JP worked up quite an appetite so we went out for a very German dinner of Schnitzel, Spätzle and beer!

This is the Stiftskirche in Stuttgart. Patty has sung in there before and it has a great acoustic, but it can get very hot and stuffy inside.


I turned a little bit and you can see the Stuttgart Rathaus (Town Hall).

I used to come to this Chinese place with my friends and we would stuff ourselves with cheap food!


The Weindorf was happening in Marksplatz so I went to check it out.


The Schlossplatz in the heart of Stuttgart is one of the most beautiful places I've been to. I went for a stroll along the Königstraße on this lovely summer evening.

My friend Hollie tried to feed me to his bird!


In the evening I attended a concert of the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart with the Stuttgart Philharmoniker.

After a few lovely days in Stuttgart I went back to Cologne for a few more days - and the sun came out! Today I went for a walk around the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral), about the train station and along the river.

On this perfect autumn day I am in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Here I am on Parliament Hill.



Not too far from the  Parliament buildings is the famous Château Laurier hotel.


Ottawa is a very pretty city because there is a lot of green space and many waterways. The Rideau Canal is famous because it freezes over in the winter and people skate on it. Here are the Ottawa Locks.


And no day in Ottawa is complete without a little walk along Sparks Street.

Brrrr... it's cold here in Saskatchewan. I'm just popping my head out to take a quick shot of the Casino Regina and then ducking back indoors! 

So this little panda bear finally made it to China! What a culture shock! It's so crowded and noisy here. I went with some friends who are familiar with Shanghai to a local market that sold everything from cell phones, glasses, pots, shoes and hot water bottles!


We went into the Old City of Shanghai where there are lots of tea vendors and also some modern additions  (like McDonalds, Haagen Dazs and The Coffee Bean)



I followed some ladies into the Pearl Market in the Yu Garden district and was overwhelmed by all the different shapes, sizes and colours of pearls!


If only this shirt came in my size! 


This is just one of hundreds of vendors in the garment district where you can find tailors, fabric, buttons, tassels and everything related to clothing! The  sheer amount of fabric, buttons, tassels and notions was overwhelming!


I did a little bit of grocery shopping - mostly because it amuses me to see American brands with Chinese on them!



This is the iconic Pearl Tower of Shanghai.

I'm back in London visiting my cousin Michelle and it's quite cold and grey. I decided to make a little pilgrimage to the Abbey Road studios, the place where The Beatles recorded many of their records. Here I am in front of the famous Abbey Road crosswalk.



I loved all the grafitti on the walls outside the studios from fans all over the world that have come to visit.


Since I was up near Baker Street station I decided to pay homage to one of the greatest detectives ever - Sherlock Holmes. I went to go visit him a 221b Baker Street, but unfortunately he was out on a consultation.

I sat in his parlour for a while hoping he would come home, but eventually I had to be on my way.


I spent the evening near Covent Garden and saw this lovely little tea shop on Neal Street.

Cousin Michelle and I took a weekend trip up to Birmingham. This is Birmingham's Town Hall, modelled after the Temple of Jupiter.




Here I am at the Birmingham War Memorial.




Here's a pretty shot of the downtown area of Birmingham, and you can see the NIA in the background.




I did manage a little bit of shopping in and was very happy to discover that there's a Primark in the main shopping area!

It's been a few months since I've been on any big trips, but there will be lots of exciting places coming up! Here I am at Toronto's Pearson International Airport with my friend MukMuk getting ready to set off on our next adventure!



Behind us is the huge Lufthansa Airbus 340-600 airplane that will be flying us to Frankfurt.

Here we are in Frankfurt ready to transfer to another plane. It was a weird experience since they board this plane on the tarmac. We had to wait in a stuffy holding area and then they moved all the passengers to the airplane on a bus.

Can you guess where we are going? 

Here I am with Mukmuk in København - Copenhagen, Denmark! This is the starting point on the Scandinavian cruise that we'll be taking. I'm quite excited since I've never been on a cruise before - but before that we had to explore some of this beautiful city.



Here we are at the København Rädhus, the Copenhagen town hall in the main square. Just off of this square is the Strøget, the pedestrianized main shopping area. There are lots of international brands, local shops and many restaurants.



Here we are outside the main entrance of the famous Tivoli Gardens.


We did a lot of travelling and walking today so we're going to get some rest, and get ready for more exploring tomorrow!

It's a beautiful day in Copenhagen and I'm going to go on a tour of the city to make the most of my time here.

Here I am with Mukmuk at the Amalienborg Palace.



Across from the palace is a lovely fountain and a great view of the Opera House.


Here we are at the famous statue of The Little Mermaid. She sits on a rock in the harbour and is based on the fairy tale by famous Danish author Hans Christian Anderson. It's a good thing we saw her because will be moved to the Danish pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010!


No visit to Copenhagen is complete without a cruise on the city's beautiful canals and waterways. The houses are so colourful and people's houseboats and yachts are parked along the sides.


Here I am in front of the Opera House.


Here is the Royal Yacht parked in the harbour, and the pavilions on the shore are where the royal family rest and enjoy some refreshments before boarding their yacht.


This scuplture museum that used to be a brewery. You can see a replica of Michelangelo's David statue outside. The other building is another old brewery.


The canal cruise was such a great way to see many parts of the city.


Finally, here I am at the Emerald Princess ship - my home for the next 10 days!

Here we are in Stockholm, Sweden. The weather was a bit grey and rainy but that didn't stop me and Mukmuk from going out. The beautiful town hall is in the background, which is where the Nobel Prize ceremonies take place annually (except for the Nobel Peace Prize).


There are lots of waterways in Stockholm, which makes for great skating in the winter!

Here I am with Mukmuk on our next destination on our cruise - Helsinki, Finland.


The first place we visited was the Sibelius Monument, created to honour the composer Jean Sibelius. I think it looks like a metal forest o_0"



Next we drove about the city on a scenic bus tour and stopped at the Rock Church, which is a church that is completely carved out of a large rock and the only outside indication is the copper dome and the discreet cross outside.


Can you see the copper cross? And the top of the copper dome?


Afterwards we had a bit of free time to explore the downtown area so we walked around a market and took in a few sights.



In this large square there is a large Lutheran church and also a monument to Czar Nicolas of Russia.


And here we are back on board the Emerald Princess ship